Electrocortical Responses to ecologically relevant visual stimuli among professional drivers with and without cardiovascular disease

Electrocortical responses were assessed using two simulated aspects of visual signals encountered in traffic: the Glare Pressor Test (GPT) and Event-Related Potential Avoidance Task (ERPAT) among four groups of male professional drivers: 12 with ischemic heart disease (IHD), 12 hypertensives, 10 borderline hypertensives, 34 who were apparently healthy and 23 nonprofessional driver healthy control subjects. The blood pressure (BP) responses immediately after the ERPAT were also measured. There was a significant between groups effect for the amplitude of the target N2 component in the ERPAT (p=0.02), with the lowest means among the drivers with IHD and the highest among those with hypertension. Drivers with IHD also showed the highest diastolic BP reactivity to the ERPAT. Significantly more than the expected number of drivers with IHD failed to recover alpha activity after the first glare impulse of the GPT. Professional drivers who failed to recover baseline levels of alpha activity after the GPT showed a significantly smaller N2 amplitude compared to those who recovered (p=0.01). There was a positive correlation between abundance of alpha activity at rest with P300 amplitude (p=0.02). An inverse relation was found between number of work hours behind the wheel and the amplitude of the target P300 (p=0.04). Results are interpreted in light of recent advances concerning integrative mechanisms of defence versus vigilance response patterns. The findings in this study justify further applications of these psychophysiologic methods to assess the relationship between simulated signals of the work environment and mechanisms of cardiac risk in this occupational group.     

Personality and emotional intelligence in teacher burnout

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between teacher's personality types, emotional intelligence and burnout and to predict the burnout levels of 147 teachers in the city of Mashhad (Iran). To this end, we have used three inventories: Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), and Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-I). We used Homogeneity Analysis and Multiple Linear Regression to analyze the data. The results exhibited a significant relationship between personality types and emotional intelligence and the three dimensions of burnout. It was indicated that the best predictors for emotional exhaustion were neuroticism and extroversion, for depersonalization were intrapersonal scale of emotional intelligence and agreeableness, and for personal accomplishment were interpersonal scale and conscientiousness. Finally, the results were discussed in the context of teacher burnout.     

A Model of Subjective Well-Being for Adolescents in High School

The aim of this study is to develop and test a subjective well-being model for adolescents in high school. A total of 255 adolescents in high school (131 female and 124 male) participated in this study. Data was collected by using the general needs satisfaction questionnaire, questionnaire for the strategies to increase subjective well-being, life satisfaction questionnaire and positive and negative affects questionnaire. The structural equation modelling method was used for analysis of the data. The results of the analysis showed that in the original model, the individual variables and the total effect of variables were directly and indirectly related to subjective well being of adolescents in high school. The direct and indirect effects of the independent variables to subjective well-being were found significant. The findings suggest that to enhance the subjective well-being of high school students, a combination of strategies and satisfaction of needs is essential.     

The root cause of the attentional blink: First-target processing or disruption of input control?

Identification of the second of two targets (T2) is impaired when presented shortly after the first (T1). T1-based theories ascribe this attentional blink (AB) to a T1-initiated period of inattention. Distractor-based theories ascribe it to a disruption of input control caused by post-T1 distractors. The finding that an AB occurs without intertarget distractors (Nieuwenstein, Potter, & Theeuwes, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 35:159-169, 2009) seemingly disconfirms distractor-based theories. The present experiments addressed different ways in which distractor-based theories might account for that finding. Intertarget events were varied in four experiments. Experiment 1 replicated Nieuwenstein, Potter, and Theeuwes??s findings. The next two experiments tested two ways (lack of visual stimulation, violation of expectation) in which the blank intertarget interval might cause an AB. Experiment 4 explored whether backward-masking of T1 can account entirely for the larger AB obtained with intervening distractors or whether distractors also disrupt input control. The results disconfirm predictions from distractor-based theories and support the claim of T1-based theories that T1 processing alone is sufficient for the AB. Simulations based on the eSTST (Wyble, Bowman, & Nieuwenstein, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 35:787-807, 2009) and the B&B models (Olivers & Meeter, Psychological Research, 115, 836-863 2008) were compared. Predictions were more accurate from the T1-based theory (eSTST) than from the distractor-based theory (B&B).     

Spiritual Needs of the Muslim Elderly Living in Nursing Homes: A Qualitative Study

Journal of Religion and Health - Paying attention to and meeting the needs of people who are elderly helps to improve their health. Caring for the elderly includes addressing...     

Transcendence,the Most Important Spiritual Need of Muslim Older Adults: A Content Analysis Study

Journal of Religion and Health - Healthcare providers agree that promoting spirituality among older adults while caring for them increases their quality of life. However, there is little knowledge...     

Evaluating the Redistribution Policy and the Right to Social Welfare in Kant’s Philosophy

The notion of social welfare was created by the paradigm shift from duty-based to right-based morality, in which the satisfaction of human needs is a right in line with preserving human dignity. This paper investigates Kant’s view on social welfare in light of redistribution policy. Kant bases his political philosophy on external freedom. Notwithstanding the ethical principles of his philosophy, he is the first prominent thinker to clearly emphasize the necessity of a redistribution policy by the government toward providing for the needs of the poor and the needy. The important question remaining is whether or not the Kantian ideas of external freedom and redistribution for the sake of satisfying the right to social welfare can reach a compromise. It seems that Kant believes the redistribution policy to be not the right of the poor to be provided welfare by the state, but the right of the state, and as such, the states' right to task the people with providing for the welfare of the poor. Such a policy challenges the freedom of the wealthier class and apparently leads to an inconsistency between the two pillars of Kant’s sociopolitical philosophy. The current paper aims to find Kant’s response to this challenge by referring to his scattered arguments.     

The Persian Version of the Personality Beliefs Questionnaire-Short-Form (PBQ-SF): A Psychometric Evaluation

Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy - The Personality Beliefs Questionnaire-Short Form (PBQ-SF) is the short-form version of PBQ (Beck and Beck in The personality belief...     

Modelling the Role of L2 Writing Anxiety in Graph-based Composing Performance and Strategy Use

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - Research on integrated writing tasks is increasing, while there is a paucity of empirical findings on graph-based writing, as one type of these tasks. The...